Lifeline
by Lozzypot
Summary: Non-massacre AU Naruto is Hokage, and sends Sora on a mission, too dangerous even for the seasoned kunoichi, and madness ensues...


It had been a normal day thus so far. The sun was high in the sky, a slight breeze brushed against the bright green leaves in the trees, the leaves dancing gently across their cloudless cerulean backdrop. Itachi stopped for a second, closed his eyes, and smiled, Sora would be due back from the mission she was on at practically any moment, and he wondered if they'd have time for a walk before dinner. As he began to continue on his way home, Sora's oldest, dearest and closest friend had come from around a corner, almost looking panicked, the silver haired Jonin's eyes widening as he laid eyes on the oldest Uchiha sibling and trying not to catch his gaze. Itachi threw Kakashi a strange look, before shaking his head "What are you doing?"

Kakashi straightened up and cleared his throat "Is she back yet?"

An eyebrow raised, Itachi studied the older ninja, trying to figure out what was going on "No, not yet. Anytime soon, I assume."

Kakashi remained silent, a strange look on his face, the Uchiha almost glaring at him as he continued to try and guess what was happening, before Kakashi's eyes dropped to the ground "I think you should maybe go and see the Hokage. I think Naruto's given Sora a mission that's too dangerous, even for her."

"Dangerous? She's a trained ANBU operative, you know as well as I do she enjoys the danger."

"It's in Akiyama country."

Any colour in Itachi's face drained immediately, and he could hear his heart pounding in his ears, as far as clan-on-clan violence went, the Akiyama and the Nakamura had never gotten along, and still to this day, blood was still split. The Uchiha spun on his heel, almost running toward the Uchiha compound, Kakashi hurrying along behind him, as grey clouds slowly began to creep in and darken the glorious sky.

When he arrived home, Itachi began to start gathering a small pack together, the noise catching the attention of this younger brother, Sasuke.

"Why are you making up a pack? You don't have a mission today, I thought it was just Sora?"

Itachi glanced up "Your baka best friend sent her on a mission far into Akiyama territory. Alone, of course."

"Tch. Idiot. I'll come with you." Sasuke rolled his eyes, before picking up his own pack "He probably didn't read the whole clan history for Konoha, isn't the feud between the Nakamura and the Akiyama well documented?"

"Although, nothing recently," Kakashi added "Seeing as both clans moved away from Konoha, nothing has been documented recently, but that doesn't mean that the dust has settled."

Itachi nodded in agreement, as he stood up, muttering under his breath "I just hope we get there in time."

Things, as it stood, were not fantastic.

If she had known when the mission had come up that it would have been here, she wouldn't have bothered taking it, but Naruto was at a loss, and she'd wanted to help him out...

Leaning back against a rotting tree stump, Sora sighed, pushing her violet hair off her face. For one of the few times she could remember, she was shit out of luck, and in the most trouble she had been in a long time. Summoning Hotaru to high tail the fuck out of there was not an option; there were already Akiyama shinobi looking for her, and the area would be booby trapped.

It struck her then that she had one final option, and she hurriedly pulled a shuriken from her pack, slicing a small part of her palm, before performing the summoning jutsu hand seals, knowing that the summon would attract attention.

As the smoke cleared, she was met with sparkling teal eyes, as Kasa came into view, the cougar purring softly as she approached Sora, brushing her head against her like an oversized housecat. Sora stroked her gently, before cuddling into her.

"Kasa, listen to me. I'm in trouble." Kasa sat back, her black ears twitching, as Sora scratched underneath her chin, sighing sadly "I can't get out of this one. Hotaru can't help me, regardless of what I do, I'm going to end up either dead or captured by them, so you're my only hope. You know how not to be seen, my beautiful girl, you need to go back to Konoha and you need to find Itachi."

Kasa mewled in understanding, before standing to her full height. Sora wrapped her arms around the cats neck, and closed her eyes, hugging her tightly, and to her surprise, Kasa raised her large paw to Sora's back, as if to pull her closer, before pulling back

"Now go, girl, before they find us."

Kasa yowled softly, before slinking back into the bushes and out of view, as Sora frowned, her eyes dropping to the ground. As the wind danced through the trees, she gazed upwards, listening to the rhapsody of the leaves, as she tried to figure out what to do next.

A rustle in the bushes nearby caught her attention, and she jumped to her feet; amethyst eyes scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary, as more bushes shook behind her, then to her left flank and finally to her right. She prayed Kasa had managed to slip past, reaching for the bow strapped to her back, and an arrow.

Cracking her neck, she raised the bow, eyes still searching for anything odd, aiming straight ahead, and as she pulled back, she channelled her chakra into the arrow.

When she finally let the arrow loose, it was engulfed in flames, and to her surprise, a large hand came out from the trees and stopped the flaming arrow, snapping it in half and throwing the smoking sections to the floor. Sora's eyes widened and her hands shook.

 _He stopped my arrow...?!_

The beast in the trees chuckled, the sound long and ominous, and slowly, a huge hulk of a man, emerged from the bushes. His eyes were like emeralds, and his long, plaited hair was a shade of forest green, a mass of feathers sticking out from the bottom. As he moved closer, he towered over her. He guessed he wasn't much older than she was, and he smirked, eyeing the kunoichi up and down.

"Nakamura. Which are you? Are you the daughter of Satoshi?" his voice was low, gravelly and dripped with distaste. She narrowed her eyes, raising the bow once more "Pretty for a Nakamura. Maybe I'll have my fun with you before I slaughter you."

Sora gritted her teeth, glaring harshly. Her knees were shaking, and she slowly began to back up against the tree stump as the hulk of an Akiyama advanced, his smirk widening in a way that made Sora's stomach lurch "You don't need to know who I am..."

"You are Nakamura Sora, you are the daughter of Nakamura Satoshi." the Akiyama stopped, and grinned widely, his eyes narrow and full of malice "You are the whore of Uchiha Itachi."

His final comment caught her offguard and her breath caught in her throat; how did this...monster know about Itachi? She bit back the fear, and shook herself, regaining her composure. She stood up tall, and lowered her bow "Why ask me who I am, if you already know? A bit backwards, if I'm honest, but intelligence was never a dominant trait in the Akiyama clan, was it?"

On the outside, she seemed calm and composed, but her her heart was fluttering like a small bird in her throat, terrified this man she knew nothing about knew so much about her, to the point he knew about her relationship with Itachi. She prayed mentally, pleading inwardly for Itachi, for Kakashi, for anyone to help. Her comment about the Akiyama not being the smartest seemed to hit a nerve with the huge man. He snarled, reaching for Sora's throat "Nakamura whore, I will enjoy making you scream! You will not disrespect Akiyama Katsuro!"

Sora leapt away, realising just who was was dealing with now she had a name. Katsuro was the son of Akiyama Takashi, a man her own father had had trouble with in his younger years. Sora smirked down from a branch of a nearby tree "Ah, I know who you are now. Daisuke mentioned you, Takashi's warhorse of a son. You're not the smartest upstairs, but we've established that already, but your strength knows no bounds."

"Come down here and fight, Nakamura whore!"

Sora smirked and obliged, ignoring the growing knots in her stomach, dropping down from the branch. She figured she would have a second to sort herself out, but as her feet touched the ground, Katsuro lunged at her, and she knocked the back of her head off the tree.

The last thing Sora remembered was being hauled over Katsuro's shoulder, as everything slowly began to fade out, and into darkness.

It probably would have been possible to cut the tension in the Hokage's office with even a blunt knife. Outside, the weather was beginning to change, the bright blue sky was beginning to turn an angry grey, and thunder was beginning to roll in over the horizon.

Itachi tapped his foot impatiently, noting Naruto couldn't bring his gaze up from the floor.

"I'm sorry, I should have known." the Hokage muttered finally, still sitting staring downwards "Do what you must in order to retrieve her. Do you need more people? Do you wanna take Sakura?"

Itachi shook his head "No. Kakashi, Sasuke and I will be fine. We need to leave now, before the weather sets in."

Kakashi nodded, and he and Itachi began to walk away, Sasuke hanging back "I'll catch up. Naruto..."

The Hokage finally looked up, blue eyes full of remorse "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I didn't mean to put her in danger; I feel like an idiot."

"I suggest you start reading up on clan histories," Sasuke drawled, rolling his onyx eyes "we'll find her, we'll bring her home, and it will be fine. Now, do your homework."

Naruto half-smiled, and nodded, getting to his feet, watching as Sasuke began to follow his brother and former teacher out of the room "Thank you, Sasuke"

The three of them had headed out almost immediately, under the darkening sky. They had barely gotten out of the gates when a strange noise echoed throughout the trees, and Itachi stopped, the sound resonating through the leaves once more, louder this time. Branches shook and they could hear loud footsteps racing towards them, strange snarls and yowls becoming more frequent.

"Kasa." Itachi sighed, as the huge cat burst from the bushes, her eyes wide and terrified as she headed straight to Itachi, growling and purring, as she brushed against the Uchiha's knees. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, watching the beast and then his brother, wondering just why a huge cougar had just run straight at him and not ripped him apart. Kakashi caught Sasuke's gaze and chuckled.

"The cougar is Sora's secondary summon. I'm assuming if Kasa's come to find you, Sora sent her." the cougar turned to Kakashi and moved her head as if she was nodding, before turning and standing waiting on them to follow her "And I'm just assuming again here, but I think she wants us to follow her."

"Well then, why are we standing here waiting for this storm to hit us? We're losing light quickly, Kasa, take us there." Kasa's long tail twitched in acknowledgement, head turning to Itachi before she bounded off into the trees, Itachi, Kakashi and Sasuke close behind her as trees and foliage flashed past in a blur of greens and browns. Sasuke noticed the closer they started to get to the Akiyama territory, the trees and bushes started to change from bright greens, slowly into beautiful oranges and yellows, tinged with bright reds and rich, earthy browns, and the deeper they went in, any green had vanished and the sky was now a deep, dark grey. They reached the clearing where Sora had sent Kasa away, within an hour and a half, rain beginning to splatter down on them. No one had spoken until the three men were stood in the clearing, Kasa sniffing around to try and figure out where Sora had gone.

"Someone has her." Itachi spoke softly, leaning down to his knees and picking up the broken, charred arrow "It looks like she tried to fight someone off, but.."

No one else spoke.

When the kunoichi finally came to, she blearily realized she had been tied up and restrained. Her head was pounding and her body ached all over, and she saw she was covered in dirt, cuts, bruises and a lot of dried blood. Both of her knees were cut and grazed, as were both of her elbows.

She went to lean forward to assess her injuries, only to find she was wearing a primitive collar made from chains, and she was even tied back with this makeshift collar.

Sora wasn't one to cry; but when she realised she was chained, helpless, and probably about to die, she felt the lump in the back of her throat, and she couldn't hold it back, sobbing quietly. The room she was being held in was dark, damp and stank of something rotten, and she was sure she could just make out a door at the end of the room. Her clothes were torn, and her forehead protector was gone; probably for the sick fuck to keep as a trophy.

Biting back her tears angrily, Sora tried to reach up to the chain around her neck, huffing when she realised it was only just out of reach. She truly was in trouble this time, held in some sort of dungeon, chained like a rabid dog, and unsure if anyone had realised she needed help yet. Her train of thought was broken when the door swung open, and Katsuro thundered in, grinning from ear to ear "You are awake, Nakamura whore. How do you like your new room?"

The violet haired kunoichi only snarled in response, pulling against her chains, her eyes flashing with firey anger "You will not hold me here."

"Do you really think that Uchiha would come and save you? You are not so special."

Katsuro's words hit her harder than any punch could; it had always been a nagging fear in the back of her head that she wasn't good enough for him, and that one day he'd leave her for someone better. Perhaps it had been the day she'd had, words didn't usually hurt her and she could keep a face, but here and now...

He only chuckled once more, before turning and punching Sora in the face, Sora squealing in surprise. She hadn't had time to recover, when he kicked her in the gut next, Sora choking as she pulled against the chains around her neck, whilst Katsuro laughed heartily. She could taste blood in her mouth, and her vision became hazy as he continued punching and kicking her, Katsuro only stopping when when there was a knock at the door "Katsuro-sama, we've been infiltrated."

The heir of the Akiyama clan growled, turning to find Sora had passed out again, he shook his head, and spat on her limp body "Pathetic Nakamura. Perhaps if this is the Uchiha, I can make you watch him die first."

Katsuro spun on his heel and began walking away, and as soon as the door had closed, Sora raised her head, eyes ablaze with fury "And I hope if it is _my_ Uchiha, he'll gut you."

She could feel the trickle of blood down her lip, and down her face, and her nose certainly felt broken. Her gut ached in a way she hadn't felt before, as if she was constantly being stabbed with a red hot blade, her wrists also red raw and bleeding from where she had pulled against her restraints, trying to wriggle free. She was sure she could hear the yells of men and the clank of metal on stone, but she wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking. She dropped her gaze to the ground once more, sighing out loud.

There was a yell outside, and the door began rattling. Sora jumped back in fear, unsure what to expect on the other side, as it slowly began to open. Violet eyes widened and were met with glowing red, and she gasped loudly, chains rattling as she did so.

"Kakashi. Itachi."

Never in all of her years, had Sora been so glad to hear Sasuke's low drawl. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she was unable to speak. When he slipped past Sasuke, and into her view, Sora choked out a sob as he rushed to her side, his expression turning dark when he saw how she had been tied up. When he brought his eyes to hers, Itachi's expression softened, and he cupped her face, gently kissing her forehead. She smiled through her tears "You came..."

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Itachi's voice was soft as he took a kunai to the fabric bounds around her wrists and her legs, trying not to look as angry as he felt when he eyed the various cuts, welts and bruises across her body, her broken nose and that collar around her neck. As she slipped out of the collar, instead of slumping back into the wall as Itachi had expected, she pulled him in and nuzzled into his neck, gripping the Uchiha tightly. Itachi wrapped his arms around her and held her close, stroking her hair as she clung to him.

"Where is Katsuro?" her voice was shaking, as she pulled back. Itachi's grip on her was still tight, and he glanced back to his younger brother.

"Dealt with," Sasuke replied, taking a step back out the room. Sora knew exactly what Sasuke's 'dealt with' meant, and she hoped that the day wouldn't end up affecting her parents and family, in some weird butterfly effect "I'm going to clean up with Kakashi. I'll come back and get you both before we leave."

Both Sora and Itachi nodded, Sora watching as Sasuke left the dark room. She moved the wrong way and groaned in pain, feeling Itachi's eyes on her "He fucked me up."

Itachi didn't speak, only brushed dried blood off her shoulder "I was worried I was too late."

"I was terrified Kasa had been intercepted. I was jumped just after I sent her to find you...if I had known that this mission was here, and with these people, I would never have accepted it, Itachi-kun. I only wanted to help Naruto out, he was desperate."

"I know, Sora," Itachi's voice was soft, and he smiled gently as he wrapped a robe around her, and although her body ached, she felt warmth wash over her as he pulled it tight "I know that you're not stupid enough to intentionally put yourself in this sort of danger."

"He knew who I was, he knew I was Satoshi's daughter...he knew about us. Well, he called me your whore." Itachi saw a small smile on her face, before she put a fake masculine voice on "Nakamura whore, whore of Uchiha Itachi."

"You're no whore. You're a damn fine kunoichi, now sit back, let me see the cuts on your face." Itachi dabbed at the blood on her face, Sora wincing as he dabbed at her eyebrow "I'm just glad I got here in time, I would never have forgiven myself- or Naruto if that monster had killed you, if he left anything of you."

He was so used to seeing her stand proud, a smile on her face, and even after the fiercest battles they'd fought together, he had never seen Sora look so small, so vulnerable...so broken. Itachi pulled Sora close once more, and closed his eyes, brushing his lips against her scalp, Sora nuzzling close.

"I think this is the closest I've seen to a public display of affection from them." Sasuke stood at the door, Kakashi by his side as Itachi and Sora mumbled to each other "If you didn't know them, you wouldn't know they were an item, would you?"

"Maybe keeping things private isn't such a terrible idea, they don't have the relationship dramas that a lot of other people seem to have." Sasuke shrugged, still watching his brother. The younger Uchiha looked down at the Konoha forehead protector in his hand, before taking a slow walk towards the couple, Sasuke's footsteps catching their attention. When he reached them, Sasuke leant down and opened his hand, revealing Sora's stolen headband.

"Thank you, Sasuke." Sora's voice was sincere, and surprisingly, she pulled Sasuke in for a long hug. She was positive there was a red tinge to Sasuke's pale cheeks, as she took the headband from him, before turning back to Itachi "Can we go home now please?"

Sasuke nodded and got to his feet first, Itachi following. Sora struggled to get to her feet, embarrassment biting at her when Itachi helped her up, and to her feet, but it melted away when she finally laid eyes on Kakashi, smiling gently as the silver haired Jonin eyed her up and down.

"Well...you look like shit."

"Yeah, I feel it," she laughed, giving him a thumbs up "It's not like me to have my ass kicked. It's not like me to need saved."

"You're entitled to be the savee, once in a while, Sora. You're always saving other people." Kakashi moved out of the doorway to let Sora past, Itachi close behind her, nodding in agreement with Kakashi's statement.

"I'm just lucky I have you guys to save me when I am in trouble. I just feel like I've let you all down."

"How on earth have you let us down? Gods, woman, how many times have you saved my sorry ass?" Kakashi ruffled her hair playfully "If anything, Sora, I'm proud of you. You did the right things, you sent Kasa, you didn't lose your cool...you may have taken a hell of a beating, but you came out the other end better than Katsuro did. You didn't come out on the wrong end of a Sharingan."

Sora smiled, the last of the fear and anxiety she had been feeling melted away when she felt Itachi's hand on her shoulder, his grip tight, yet comforting. She pulled the robe tighter around her body, as she walked out of the rotten hideout with them, and into the sunset, the sky a shimmering orange, tinted with gold and red. She turned to Itachi once more, as Kakashi and Sasuke walked ahead, and pulled him in for a quick kiss, mumbling against his lips "I love you."

On their arrival back in Konoha, Sora had decided to go back to the compound with Itachi. He had drawn her a bath, and once she had tended to her wounds, she stripped down and slipped into the water, the warmth more than inviting as she sunk back and closed her eyes. Itachi had followed her, and was in the process of stripping down himself, joining Sora in the hot water, taking a deep breath as his arm wrapped around her shoulders, his fingers tangling around strands of her violet hair tenderly.

"I've been thinking." he began, Sora stiffening, unsure of what was coming next "You and I, we've been together a long time now. I mean, I know we aren't exactly public about our relations, but all in all, we have been together since we were children. I feel like it's time to take things to a new level."

"Okay..." her voice was twinged with curiosity, and her eyebrow was raised "Should I be worried with where this is going?"

"No, not at all, what I'm trying to say, well, ask, is if you would perhaps want to move in here? And I suppose, not only that. Sora...I want to make you my wife."

"Is that really how you're gonna propose to me? Do you even have a ring?" Sora laughed out loud, splashing water at her Uchiha companion and rolling her eyes playfully "But your answer is yes. To both of those questions."

Instead of a reply, Itachi simply pulled her close for a deep kiss. Just hours ago, she had been worried that he didn't care, and that he wouldn't come and save her; but now she mentally berated herself for doubting Itachi. He would never leave her hanging, and it seemed that no matter what happened, or how horrible the situation was, Itachi would have her back, for now and for as long as he lived.


End file.
